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A cartography of the Aztec Gods Pantheon

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be an Aztec jaguar warrior…”

South American and Mesoamerican civilizations have fascinated me since my childhood - when I would watch “The Mysterious Cities of Gold” an early 80’s Japanese-French anime series. Solar-powered galleon ship, golden mechanical-condor, three kids exploring the New World at the beginning of Spanish Conquest and mini documentaries at the end of each episode. Who could ask for anything more?

(Footnote: Hoping for a sequel? Already done in 2012!)

But with 2021 marking the 500th year since the fall of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, it was time to switch from passion to understanding. Time to commemorate the complexity of the Aztec Pantheon, make the academic research more accessible to the general public and show how this civilization is still alive in our global culture.

Information is scattered, partial and sometimes contradictory but, thanks to the Pudding and its gifted team, we tried to embrace all of them to give you an extensive map and an overview of the Aztec Pantheon. And we hope it will help you see this civilization with your inner child’s eyes, just like I did years ago.

Written sources:
lost or tainted

Until its rise as an academic field that strives for accuracy, history has been, by definition, written from a single point of view. Concerning our subject, we stumble upon a major difficulty: the Aztecs destroyed materials created by their rivals in order to justify the dominance of their empire. And Spanish conquerors and Christian missionaries brought about an even bigger annihilation, toppling Aztec society and rewriting their works.

Fortunately, some of these missionaries tried to collect as much information as they could, especially pioneer of anthropology Bernardino de Sahagún, while others, like Bartolomé de Las Casas, fought for indigenous rights. Their work is still precious to historians.

Complex iconography

Aztec gods, in iconographic sources, are a little like paper dolls, with important symbolic accessories added to their form (feathers and jade for nobility or power, walking stick for merchants, skulls and bones for the underworld, claws or fangs for sacrificial dimension, etc.). This explains the difficulty in identifying gods, even by specialists, as these symbols can be emphasized for a particular worship or switched between deities, if they share similar fields of competence. Thus, gods can have multiple disguises, or “nahual”, and share them with others, like a never-ending stream.

Below, you can look at two examples of Aztec gods, Tezcatlipoca and Tlaltecuhtli, and their combinations of symbols which permit identification.

Black and red are predominant colors.
The crouching position can be a symbol of the birthing process and fertility.

Contextual elements

Aztec civilization is just one of several that have occupied Mesoamerica since 7000 BC and the first agricultural villages. Among the earliest complex civilizations were the Olmecs, around 2500 BC.

Loading Mesoamerican timeline.

Aztec domination started from the Lake Texcoco region around 1300 AC and expanded until 1520, with the arrival of Hernan Cortes.

Loading Map of Aztec Empire.

According to Aztec mythology, we are living under the Fifth Sun (Tonatiuh).

Loading The 5 suns.

Going Further

Aztec, contextuals elements

    General

    • The daily life of the Aztecs, Jacques Soustelle
    • The Aztecs and The Aztec Empire, Michael E. Smith
    • Les Aztèques : le peuple du cinquième Soleil, Carmen Bernand

    Culture and Religion

    • La religion mexica, Rafael Tena
    • Los oficios en la religion mexicana, Jacqueline de Durand-Forest
    • Aztec thought and culture, Miguel Leon-Portilla (translated by Jack Emory Davis)
    • Amoxaltepetl “Popol Vuh Azteca”, Christian Aboytes (Spanish)
    • In the age of the Fifth Sun: Jacques Soustelle’s studies of Aztec religion, Aleksandar Bošković
    • Aztec Mythology: The Influence of Aztec Mythology on Mexican Culture and History, James W. Salterio Torres

Warnings and problematic points

    Primal Sources

    • Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, Bernardino de Sahagún
    • “El panteón en la Historia General de las cosas de la Nueva España de fray Bernardino de Sahagún”, Guilhem Olivier

    Iconographic analysis and identification

    • Les dieux aztèques et leur iconographie, Sylvie Peperstraete
    • An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Mary Miller and Karl Taube
    • La pragmatique des dieux aztèques, Danièle Dehouve
    • Les règles de construction des dieux aztèques (Religions en Mésoamérique), Danièle Dehouve

Ometeotl

  • Reshaping the world: debates on Mesoamerican cosmologies, Ana Maria Diaz Alvarez
  • Ometeotl and the Emergence of the Male-Female Polarity in Aztec Cosmogony, Sylvie Peperstraete
  • Ometeotl, the God that Didn’t Exist,

Quetzalcoatl

  • Quetzalcoatl, in myth, archeology, and art, Demetrio Sodi, José López Portillo and Fernando Díaz Infante
  • The myth of Quetzalcoatl, Enrique Florescano
  • The Myth of Quetzalcoatl: Religion, Rulership, and History in the Nahua World, Alfredo López Austin

Tezcatlipoca

  • Nahualism, Roberto Martinez Gonzalez
  • Tezcatlipoca: trickster and supreme deity, Elizabeth Baquedano
  • A Guide to Mexican Witchcraft, William and Claudia Madsen
  • Shamanism in Mexico, William Madsen
  • Symbolizing Tezcatlipoca, Nicholas J. Saunders and Elizabeth Baquedano
  • Le nahualli : homme-dieu et double animal au Mexique, Roberto Martinez Gonzalez

Huitzilopochtli

  • Incarnations of the Aztec Supernatural: The Image of Huitzilopochtli in Mexico and Europe, Elizabeth H. Boone
  • Huitzilopochtli: The History of the Aztec God of War and Human Sacrifice, Ernesto Novato

Xipe Totec

Mictlantecuhtli

  • El Mictlan Entre Los Mexica, Ignacio de la Garza Galvez
  • Llewellyn's Little Book of the Day of the Dead, Jaime Gironés
  • Iconography in Mexico's Day of the Dead: Origins and Meaning, Stanley Brandes
  • The Saint Death and the syncretism in the work of Homero Aridjis, Weselina Gacinska

Tlaltecuhtli

  • Coatlicue o la degollación de la madre, Jean-Claude Delhalle & Albert Luykx
  • Great Goddesses of the Aztecs: Their Meaning and Functions, Aleksandar Boskovic
  • Aspects of Death symbolism in aztec Tlaltecuhtli, Elisabeth Baquedano
  • Ensayo pre iconográfico sobre Tlaltecuhtli, diosa de la Tierra, Carmen Aguilera

Xiuhtecuhtli

  • Le vieux dieu : Vies et morts d'une divinité ignée sur les Hauts Plateaux mexicains, Claire Billard
  • Ciclos de tiempo y significado en los libros mexicanos del destino, Elizabeth Hill Boone

Tlaloc

  • The rules of construction of an Aztec deity Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of water, Danièle Dehouve
  • Tlaloc: The History of the Aztec God of Rain and Giver of Life, Ernesto Novato

Mixcoatl

  • Iconografía de una imagen de Iztac Mixcóatl, una imagen en el Códice Telleriano-Remensis, Carmen Aguilera
  • Mixcoatl: Aztec God of the Hunt, Jimmy Joe
  • The Invisible War : Indigenous Devotions, Discipline, and Dissent in Colonial Mexico, David Tavarez

Yacatecuhtli

Mayahuel

Xochipilli

  • Xochipilli “Le prince des fleurs”. Etude iconographique et textuelle d’une divinité aztèque, Ingrid Lizbeth & Bernal Martinez
  • Aztec Art, Manuel Aguilar-Moreno
  • Xochihuah and Queer Aztecs, David Bowles
  • Xochipilli and homosexuality (2 parts), MasaAmericana website
  • Gender and Aztec Life Cycles, Caroline Dodds Pennock

Special mentions

Work in progress

We have, so far, in our database around 90 gods. And another batch of 60 gods are in the “work in progress” phase, as we still lack information, iconographic ressources or simply the time to render them in graphic vector.

We hope to improve and expand it in the future so, if you’re interested in this project, you can contact me (uguengwendal@gmail.com) for corrections or written or iconographic resources. Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Special mentions

A special thanks to Sylvie Peperstraete, Fiona Pugliese, Ingrid Bernal, Elizabeth Baquedano, Florian Melki, Patrick Lesbre and Ian Mursell for their help and advice during my research.

My favorite websites

Mexicolore, a wonderful and rich website for the general public about ancient cultures in Mexico.

MayaIncaAztec, an educational website about indigenous societies of America, where I published my first restorations.

My Corazon Mexica on Etsy and Facebook for their incredible drawings and costumes inspired by aztec mythology.